Telecommunications devices, such as radiotelephones, have become increasingly popular for both personal and commercial use. However, with their increase in popularity, radiotelephones have also been undergoing miniaturization to facilitate storage and portability. Indeed, some contemporary radiotelephone models are only 11-12 centimeters in length.
Unfortunately, as radiotelephones become smaller, less area may be available for keypads that users utilize to operate radiotelephones. Accordingly, keypads have also become smaller, thereby causing the size and spacing of keys within keypads to decrease. However, for ergonomic reasons, there is a limit below which it may be undesirable to decrease the size and spacing of keys within a keypad. As a result, further miniaturization of radiotelephones may be constrained because of keypad ergonomic concerns. To accommodate radiotelephone miniaturization, it may become necessary to eliminate certain radiotelephone functions because of lack of space for keys to perform the functions. Alternatively, it may be necessary to require certain keys to perform more than one function. Unfortunately, multi-function keys may be somewhat difficult and confusing to users.